THE REPORTER.
"'TIS PLEASANT, THROUGH THE LOOP-HOLES OF RETREAT, TO PEEP AT SUCH A WORLD-- TO SEE THE STIR OF THE GREAT BABEL, AND NOT FEEL THE CROWD."
[NEW SERIES----VOL. I.]	WASHINGTON, (PA.) MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24th, 1821.	[NO. 18.

      Mr. Timothy complained that I had not noticed his seven arguments in favor of coercing certain persons to pay some regard to the first day. I did not think that he called them arguments until his last No's appeared. We shall since he has dignified them with this title examine every one of them. We shall take up one of them now. His first argument is, No. 7.¹ "How could men enjoy the privilege ("of worshipping God in public on the Sabbath,") if all those who do not count it their privilege were permitted to pursue their ordinary business on the Sabbath. How could those, who inhabit large cities worship God without disturbance amid the clinking of hammers and rattling of drays, &c." Hence, the necessity of coercion. I ask how do the Presbyterians of all sects, Episcopalians, and Catholics, in all our large cities, go through all the forms of their devotion on their first² days, preparation Saturdays, and Sacramental Mondays. How do synods, presbyteries, councils, meet and worship, and transact ecclesiastical business on week days amidst the common business of the cities!! How do they worship God in their families, morning and evening, every week day, amidst the same confusion!! If they can worship in these circumstances one day they may another I argue--and I argue that if it is right to oblige all the citizens to make no noise on the Lord's day, that we may have the privilege of worshipping in quietness, then it is right to oblige them to abstain from business on all our week day meetings and while we worship in our families, lest we should be disturbed in our devotion. And I argue that if the Presbyterian should oblige us to be quiet on his fast day, the Episcopalian should oblige us to observe his christmas day, the Catholic his good Friday, & the Jew his seventh day. Where is mr. T's 1st argument now! I wonder how the primitive christians in Jerusalem, in Rome, in Corinth, in Ephesus, in Antioch, populous and pagan cities, could worship God on the first day in the churches for so long a time!!! Shall I pursue the argument any farther, no, its vanished. The civil law should protect all congregations on any day from insult or unnecessary interruption, but all beyond this is unjust & oppressive.

      I proceed to a third argument against the system I oppose. It has been said that if faith be a duty of all men, then going to hear the word preached is a previous duty. But the scriptures say "the word preached did not profit, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." So that the scriptures presupposes faith as prerequisite to hearing the word to advantage. We fully admit that "faith, too, comes by hearing the word of God." Yet we cannot admit the propriety of teaching that the unbelievers first duty, in order to faith, is, to go to sermon. The commission under which all true preachers act makes it their duty to go out to all places, into all the world, & to announce the gospel to every creature, not to give out that it is the duty of unbelievers to come to wait on them. Again, parents, who are christians, are bound to acquaint their children in due time with the gospel, "to bring them up in the training, or nurture, and admonition of the Lord," so that in a professing country every child may, and a majority have an opportunity of hearing the gospel before they are able or capable to understand a learned divine. As soon as the gospel is once announced to any, he is commanded to believe it, upon its own evidence, and not to believe it, when fully stated, on its own evidence, is to increase the guilt and aggravate the condemnation of the hearer.

      All duties are either mediate or immediate, that is, duties that should be done just now, or hereafter. Every man in the world is in duty bound to do every thing that God requires of him, but every duty, is not to be done at once. A man, must first be a husband, before it becomes his duty to love his wife, a father, before it becomes his duty to love his children, a master, before he becomes bound to render unto his servants that which is just and equal. Yet every man is bound to do all these things when he comes into those relatives. To say that under the gospel any duty was prior to faith, is to say that infidel duties are prior to faith. To say that hearing, repenting, or reforming are prerequisite to faith, is to say, that infidel or faithless hearing, infidel or faithless repenting, infidel or faithless reformation, is the immediate duty of all men, and faith the mediate. But if faith be not the immediate duty of all men, then no man can be condemned for not immediately believing. A man might as correctly be told to love his wife who is not yet a husband, as to be told to observe the first day of the week, who is not yet a christian. From all which it follows:

      Faith is the immediate duty of every unbeliever to whom divine revelation comes.

      But, divine revelation has come to every citizen in Pennsylvania, therefore, faith is the immediate duty of every citizen in Pennsylvania, who has not yet believed.

      If faith be the immediate duty of all unbelievers, then observance of the Lords day is, not the immediate duty of any unbeliever for there cannot be two immediate duties.

CANDIDUS.      

[The Reporter, 24 September 1821, p. 4.]